The Volunteer Executive recognized Susan for 15 years of exceptional service by nominating her for an Ontario Service Award earlier this year. We asked Susan to tell us about herself in her own words:

I started off in the contemporary galleries, where my most memorable experience might have been with two children who came hurrying to me saying breathlessly, “Miss! Miss! Someone has drawn a circle of the wall!” It was in fact a contemporary work and it was the intellectual property of the AGO, meaning that the AGO could draw that circle or paint over it at will. The two were fascinated by this information and followed me around with questions and more questions for at least 45 minutes in fact until their parents called them off.  I have worked more recently in the Canadian collections with great pleasure and most recently in Ai WeiWei – a marathon indeed, where visitors were desperate to understand and be informed and the Gallery Guides were bombarded by questions and sometimes found ourselves struggling for answers.

Oddly, I came from a science background and was a research technician at Western and U of T in Physiology and Clinical Biochemistry departments. On retirement I took some courses at U of T; one on museology allowed me to explore the many museums in the city and the possibility for volunteering. The AGO caught my attention –  my mother had taken art courses with Arthur Lismer and I had been a Saturday morning student there. There seemed to be an interest in individual thought at the AGO and the flexibility was appealing.

I am also a volunteer at the yearly University College book sale and very occasionally I man the bookshop. I adore spending a day in the bookshop. The only problem is that one becomes engrossed in reading something from the tempting shelves and then in walks a customer and one is forced to leave the page just when the plot thickens…

I have lots of favourite works in the gallery. At present I especially enjoy Shift as an exhibit space, and within it Kent by Chuck Close. The careful blending of technology and artistry attracts me and catches the visitor’s attention. Its size, the amazing technique, and the sheer immediacy of this somewhat dilapidated presence are remarkable and worth considering.

My years at the AGO have been the biggest learning curve of my entire life. As for the future, I simply hope to remain a functioning member of the team for as long as I can add a worthwhile voice. And of course more concretely to prepare for the works coming from the Guggenheim. I will do my best to broadcast this must-see event and I am personally anxious to decipher Kandinsky at my leisure.

Watch for further profiles of our award winners!